Dick Grayson
History Richard John "Dick" Grayson was once Batman's first sidekick Robin, before going on to become Nightwing. Once he took up the mantle of Batman when Bruce was thought to be dead, but became Nightwing once again after the events of Flashpoint. After Forever Evil, Dick's identity was revealed to the world and Bruce convinced him to give up being Nightwing to become an agent of Spyral. He was created by artist Bob Kane, writter Bill Finger and by illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics#38 in April 1940. The youngest in a family of acrobats known as the "Flying Graysons," Dick watched as a mafia boss killed his parents in order to extort money from the circus that employed them (whose name was later revealed to be Tony Zucco.) Bruce Wayne, secretly the vigilante Batman, took him in as his legal ward after witnessing their deaths, and eventually as his sidekick, Robin. Throughout Dick's adolescence, Batman and Robin were inseparable. However, as Dick grew older and spent more time as the leader of the Teen Titans, he decided to take on the identity of Nightwing to assert his independence (other teenaged heroes would later fill in the role of Robin). His Nightwing persona was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, and first appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984). As Nightwing, Dick led the Teen Titans and later the Outsiders. Following the events of the Zero Hour miniseries, he temporarily replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman, beginning in Robin #0 (October 1994) and extending throughout the Batman: Prodigal storyline. In an eponymous series, launched in 1996 and continuing until 2009, he becomes the protector of Blüdhaven, Gotham's economically troubled neighboring city. Following the destruction of Blüdhaven, at the command of Deathstroke the Terminator, Nightwing relocated to New York. After the events of Batman R.I.P., Dick moved operations to Gotham to protect the city after Bruce's apparent death in Final Crisis. Despite Bruce's will wanting him not to succeed Wayne permanently as Batman, the chaos in Gotham following Batman's disappearance prompts Dick to take up his mentor's identity once again and has returned to operating as the new Batman. His Nightwing mantel would then be passed on to Chris Kent. As Robin, Dick has appeared in most other media adaptations of Batman, most notably the Joel Schumacher films, Batman Forever''and ''Batman & Robin, where he was portrayed by Chris O'Donnell. The Batman animated series of the 1990s is the first one to portray his evolution into Nightwing. History- The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by the legendary hero Robin Hood, as well as the famous red-breasted Robin, which continued the "flying animal" motif of Batman. Young Dick Grayson was born on the first day of spring. His mother nicknamed him "little Robin." Little did she know how prophetic this term of endearment would be in her son's life. Also, when he was up on the trapeze, he reminded his mother of a robin. Dick Grayson was an eight-year-old circus acrobat, the youngest of a family act called The Flying Graysons ofThe Haly Circus . Dick joined the act at a very young age, having been trained in acrobatics from birth. Before one appearance in Gotham City, in which The Flying Graysons were the main attraction, they were asked to pose for a photo opportunity with Jack Drake and his family, including their young son, Tim Drake. From that time on Tim's one and only hero in the world was Dick. While on tour in Gotham City, he overheard "Boss" Tony Zucco, a well-known and feared crime lord, threaten the performers unless the circus's owner paid protection money. The owner refused, and that night Dick watched in horror as his parents' high wire snapped, sending his parents hurtling to their deaths, all while many of Gotham's elite watched on. Young Dick felt responsible, because he failed to warn his parents in time. Begginings- Shortly after the tragedy, shown in Batman: Year Three and Year One Annual: Robin, Dick was placed in an uncaring juvenile services system, on the grounds that social services was full. He got beaten up by a number of the inmates, and he was later sent to a Catholic orphanage. Bruce Wayne rescued Dick by adopting him as his ward, because the boy did not want to replace his deceased father with the billionaire. Frustrated by the lack of attention from his new guardian and the mystery still surrounding his parents' death, Dick snuck out of Wayne Manor one evening to solve the crime on his own - only to stumble into Batman, who was also investigating the murder. After waking up in the Batcave, he is shocked to learn that Bruce is really the Batman. They succeed in revealing Zucco's complicity, but he supposedly dies of a heart attack before his arrest. Seeing a reflection of himself in Dick; that he could temper compassion with a thirst for justice, Batman made the young orphan the offer of a lifetime; the chance to become his crime-fighting partner. Dick chose the name Robin, after the nickname his mother gave him, and his training began. Robin's origin had a typological connection to Batman's in that both witnessed the crime-related deaths of their parents, creating an urge to battle the criminal underworld. This provided a bond and understanding between the two. Bruce taught Dick fighting techniques and detective skills for a grueling 6 months. Finally, Dick had to pass a final test - "the Gauntlet". Dick had to elude the Dark Knight on the streets of Gotham for one night - from sundown to sunrise - without any outside help. Dick succeeded, simultaneously bringing Gotham gangster Joe Minette to justice. Dick took to the streets as Batman's full-fledged partner in crime-fighting: Robin, the Boy Wonder. When Robin was 17, he was shot in the shoulder by the Joker, and this scared Batman into ending his career for good. Dick realized at that point he had grown up: He no longer relied on Batman and, in fact, he and the Dark Knight disagreed on crime-fighting methodology as Batman used torture and Dick didn't like it. His newfound independence and Titans' duties in New York left less time for his former commitments in Gotham City. He also dropped out of Hudson after only one semester. Dick rediscovered his self-worth among the Teen Titans. Batman, however, was less than pleased. He informed Dick that if he no longer wanted to be his partner, then Dick would have to retire as Robin. Dick left Wayne Manor after this falling out. Helping him through this difficult time was his fellow Titans, including Starfire, a beautiful alien that Dick had fallen in love with. Dick handed over leadership of the Titans to Wonder Girl. Uncertain what to do, he turned to someone he knew would understand: Superman. Very briefly, Dick had considered giving up the whole crime fighting gig; but he couldn't imagine his life any other way. But if he couldn't be Robin, who would he be? Superman had the answer. Long ago on Krypton, a man was cast out by his family - just as Dick had been. He dreamed of a world ruled by justice, and set out to protect the helpless of Krypton. His true identity was never revealed. He was known only as Nightwing. The Post-Crisis version of Grayson had him become the first and only Nightwing, with his costume partially inspired by his father, who at one time wore a circus costume that was a variant of colleague Boston Brand's Deadman costume. When all his teammates were captured by Deathstroke the Terminator, and delivered to the HIVE, Dick assumed a new identity of Nightwing and helped to free them, with the help of new ally (and future Titan), Jericho. ne year later, Dick Grayson returned to New York City (his previous home base with the Teen Titans) in order to find out who had been masquerading as Nightwing. The murderous impostor turned out to be the former Robin, Jason Todd. Grayson lead the Outsiders once again, operating undercover and globally. Nightwing followed an armored thief named Raptor, who he suspected was responsible for a series of murders. Later, Raptor himself was murdered in a manner similar to the other victims by an unseen contract killer, who proceeded to bury Grayson alive. Nightwing freed himself, but wondered about the relationship between his experience and a mysterious voice who told him that he was "supposed to be dead". Nightwing was having trouble finding things to keep him busy during the day due to the cast on his right arm. Incapacitated from his injuries, he tried without luck to find jobs and continued to research into the mysterious assassin. At one point Dick agreed to attend a party for Bruce Wayne and their relationship seemed to flourish. Bruce praised Dick for his success on the Raptor case, and also mentioned to look into the Landman Building which hosted ex-Lexcorp scientists; most likely those who worked on the Raptor project. Dick had also continued to keep a close brotherly relationship with Tim Drake, and helped him deal with the his many losses during the past year. After dealing with the Raptor issue, New York City was plagued by a villainous duo called Bride and Groom. Nightwing begins pursuit of these two after some grisly murders, including that of the Lorens family (close friends of his after the Raptor incident). Dick grew obsessed with finding them, not knowing how far he was willing to go to take them down. Eventually, he formed a makeshift team with some "villains" to find them. They located them, and after killing some of his "team" Nightwing chased them to a cave, where Bride began a cave-in and the two were trapped there. Titans Together Again Some time later, Nightwing disassociated himself from the Outsiders, turning the responsibility of leadership over to his old mentor Batman. He then reunited with his alma mater the Titans after learning about a vicious attack wrought against Cyborg’s impromptu Titans East trainees. Along with Beast Boy, Cyborg, Donna Troy, Flash, Raven, Red Arrow and Starfire, Dick discovered that the perpetrator behind this attack was the spawn of one of the Titans' deadliest villains – Trigon. Trigon had apparently had other children aside from Raven, who each symbolized the seven deadly sins. Together the Titans managed to defeat the sons of Trigon and again rescue Raven from being turned evil. Afterwards, they agreed to reform their group of Titans.